Congregational Vitality Assessment

To get the most benefit for your congregation from the CVA, follow these suggested best practices:

Designate an Assessment Initiator

It will be important to designate a single individual to be the CVA initiator. This person will:

1. Register the congregation on the CVAtools.org site.

2. Receive the confirmation email – note that it has two different links, each of which has a specific function:

• One that the initiator will use to start the survey (by taking it first) and later to review, download, and share the results.
• The other to share those with the selected survey group, so that they can access and complete the survey.

3. Sample Composition and Size

For congregations with over 50 active members we recommend a representative sample of no more than 25 people (i.e., NOT the entire congregation). In most cases a sample of 15 people is perfectly adequate as long as it is a representative subset of the makeup of the congregation.

For Congregations with fewer than 50 active members. Obviously, it is never a good idea to give something to half the congregation and leave the other half out. In such a case, congregation wide implementation is recommended, but leadership may need to interpret the results in light of the biases this might produce.

What do we mean by a representative sample. By a representative sample we mean representative of both the leadership structure of church and its demographic make up. In other words, a group that captures the full diversity of your congregation, including but not limited to:

• Age (young, old, and in-between)
• Gender and Sexuality (straight and LGBTQ)
• Ordination Status (ordained & lay)
• Race-Ethnicity-Language-Country of Origin
• Congregational Ministry (worship, formation, outreach, etc.)
• Socio-Economic Diversity
• Any other criteria that makes sense for your congregation

To determine what your representative sample should look like:

• Start with a core group composed of vestry, committee chairs, and committee members.
• Study the makeup of your congregation.
• Determine which groups are under-represented in the sample group (or the congregation).
• Invite someone representative of all the above groups.

There are several reasons we recommend this:

• Regression toward the mean (also called reversion to the mean or reversion to mediocrity). The more random variables introduced the greater the likelihood of everything coming out average.
• Imbalanced Results. Results are weighted in favor of people who are natural test-takers and tends to leave out people who don’t like to take them.
• Samples tend to be non-representative, with results biased toward certain groups (e.g. more Boomers and GenX-ers than Millennials and GenZ-ers, more insiders than newcomers, fewer financially challenged people, etc.).

Invite, Don’t Advertise

Once you have determined what a representative group should look like, select individuals that represent the various groups you have identified, and personally/individually invite them. Explain how the results can benefit the congregation. Ask them more than once if necessary. Start with the congregation’s governing board, supplement them with ministry chairs, then fill in the holes with congregation members. Explain to each person why their input is important.

Remind, Remind, Remind

Inform the participants that they will have until 14 days after the CVA was initiated (provide the exact date) to complete the assessment, and that on the 15th day you will receive the results.

Remind the those who will be taking the CVA at several points during the 14-day assessment period:

• 7 days before the deadline.
• 4 days before the deadline.
• 1 day before the deadline.
• On the day of the deadline

Share the Results

Share the CVA results with the congregation in concentric circles, working outward:

• Church governing board.
• Ministry chairs and members.
• Congregation Wide.

Pro-Tip:

Put the results in a spreadsheet and create a barchart, then:

• Highlight the top 3 vitality areas of strength. The congregation can leverage these strengths to engage missional opportunities.
• Highlight the 3 areas most in need of improvement. The congregation may wish to supplement these by collaborating with other congregations with strengths in those areas.
• Draw an arrow from the Internal Sustainability score to the External Sustainability score. This provides the congregation with an indication of the direction in which it might be headed sustainability-wise.

Discern how God is speaking to you through the data

Yes, data can play an important role in congregational discernment, by helping you look into your blind spots and overcome your unconscious biases.

Pro-Tip:

For best discernment results, request a Neighborhood Insights Report (from FaithX), then:

1. Explore the NIR, looking for significant missional opportunities and challenges (which can be turned into opportunities).
2. Compare the dominant population segments to your congregational membership (we can help with this).
3. Sit at the confluence of these two data streams and seek God’s voice in the data (we can help with this, as well).

Need help in interpreting and reflecting on any of the above?

Contact FaithX at info@faithx.net